If you’re looking into a new phone system for your business, then the first thing you will probably want to know is if you need to worry about the service unexpectedly going down for any reason. Business owners especially have questions about this when trying a virtual provider for the first time. We’re going to address a few of these questions here.
Consider the Type of Virtual System
Different virtual providers connect calls in a few different ways. The three main examples of these are those that connect calls strictly through your mobile phone’s carrier service through the cellular network; VoIP providers who use your on-site Internet connection; and the providers like Talkroute who connect calls using the networks of whatever phones you have—cell phone, landline, or other type of phone.
The latter is the best type most of the time because your call connection will be as reliable as the phones you already have and utilizes the cellular network as well as the traditional PSTN landline network and gives you the best of both worlds, depending on what phones you are using with the system.
Check in with Your Prospective Virtual Providers About Uptime
One great advantage about using a virtual phone system for your business is that the actual native carriers used by your virtual provider probably don’t experience many outages to speak of.
The vast majority of carrier outages are the result of cyber attacks, and those attackers typically target the big carriers like Comcast or Verizon, for example.
Even so, you should definitely contact your new virtual service provider before signing up and ask them what their uptime record is because there can be varying cases of this. Most of the time, you’re going to find that they have a pretty solid uptime record.
Understanding Dropped Calls and Outages
There is a notable distinction between a service outage and a dropped call, though they may originate from the same source. Although it does happen, there is a slim chance that dropped calls are caused by your virtual service if it is connecting calls through the networks of your existing phones.
Most likely, the carrier of whatever phone you were using actually dropped the call. There is also a strong possibility that it was the fault of the other phone’s carrier (the person on the other end). For more information on causes of dropped calls, check out this additional resource:
https://talkroute.com/when-the-mobile-network-fails-dropping-calls-like-theyre-hot/
Stephanie
Stephanie is the Marketing Director at Talkroute and has been featured in Forbes, Inc, and Entrepreneur as a leading authority on business and telecommunications.
Stephanie is also the chief editor and contributing author for the Talkroute blog helping more than 100k entrepreneurs to start, run, and grow their businesses.